Every day brings something different

The weekend started off great. We made a long trip to our niece’s house to celebrate two birthdays. The first one was for my sister-in-law, Sue. The second was for a cute little grand-niece who just turned two and was born on her grandmother Sue’s birthday. We won’t mention Sue’s age except to say she is one year older than me.

We got there a little early and had some time to catch up before the house filled with well-wishers. The birthday toddler, Molly, and her two cousins, Isabella and Mackinzie, were supposed to be taking naps. Notice that I didn’t say they were actually napping. 

Molly was the first to escape the dreaded nap time. I had bought a card for her that played music when opened. Instead of replaying the message, Molly tore the card apart looking for the source of the sound. Once she finally found it, she was satisfied and left the shreds of the card for her mom to pick up.

More and more people joined the party. Sue’s birthday was largely overlooked, as most of those in attendance were more acquainted with the birthday girl than they were with Sue.

I was surprised that there weren’t more meltdowns than there were. Most of the protests were because one child grabbed a toy out of the other child’s hands. Any time there are three napless toddlers in one house there are bound to be conflicts. Thankfully, the the problems were few and the resolutions came quickly.

At one point Isabella was eating lunch that Sue had fixed. Isabella said she wanted one of the hoagie rolls like the adults were using for sandwiches.

Sue cut off a piece and Isabella asked if she could have butter on it. Then, Jane, mother of the birthday child, offered to add honey to it. You would have thought Isabella had won the lottery. First butter and now honey? Could her world get any better?

In addition to her butter and honey sandwich, she had a strawberry on her plate. She was sitting beside her grandfather, Bill. Bill offered to cut the cap off of the strawberry, as Isabella indicated quite clearly that she didn’t want any greenery on her strawberry. Bill committed the ultimate sin. Not only did he cut off the top of the strawberry, he; oh, horrors of horrors; he cut the strawberry in half. I thought the world was going to end.

Isabella tried keeping the strawberry stuck together but it came apart and the dog ate the half that had fallen to the floor. Tears welled up in Isabella’s eyes. A fresh strawberry was produced and tragedy was averted.

The birthday girl didn’t have a butter and honey sandwich. She was treated to that ultimate toddler food, macaroni and cheese. She ate some by herself before handing me the spoon so I could feed her. I had forgotten how little toddlers eat. She had downed about a tablespoon full of macaroni before she decided that was enough.

At some point, presents were opened, Happy Birthday was sung and people started to leave. We hugged those we could and thanked them for inviting us. By this time, I had a roaring headache and was so thankful that my hubby did all the driving.

That was yesterday, today I am listening to the wind howl. The sky is flat white. All sorts of objects are racing through the air. At one point a rather large green cushion stopped by but is gone now. The tops of the trees are waving and I keep expecting the bird nests in the bare branches to fly away. 

Sometimes I wonder how things can be so different from one day to the next. One day I am playing with toddlers, the next day I am wondering how a rather large nest can stay in the top of a tree in the face of a wind that is relentless. I’m glad we made the long drive to attend the party. I’m also glad that the wind hasn’t caused any real damage. Yet.